www.westernleader.co.nz
5
WESTERN LEADER, JANUARY 24, 2012
NEWS
Auckland is turning 172. In city years we,re practically
teenagers. So sharpen your party hat because Auckland
Anniversary Weekend will be a non-stop celebration of
our wonderful city.
Visit aucklandnz.com/birthday for more information.
ATE0001G
WAITAKERE CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU
We are running a training course commencing late February for volunteer
interviewers at the 4 Citizens Advice Bureaux in Waitakere.
Applicants will need good communication skills, good written and spoken
English, basic computer knowledge and an empathy will people from all walks
of life.
Training takes place over 5 weeks 2 days per week and you would need to be
available for the full 5 weeks.
We offer free advice and referrals by local people for local people. If you are
interested and feel that you have the time to commit to a duty at least 1 half
day per week as well as on going training and you have the skills required
please contact your local bureau manager.
Glen Eden Citizens Advice Bureau
12-32 Glendale Rd
Glen Eden
Phone 818 8634
Monday to Friday 9am -- 4.30pm
Massey Citizens Advice Bureau
Cnr Don Buck Rd and Westgate Dr
Massey
Phone 833 5775
Monday to Friday 9am -- 4.30pm
Henderson Citizens Advice Bureau
11 Trading Place
Henderson
Phone 836 4118
Monday to Friday 9am -- 4.30pm
New Lynn Citizens Advice Bureau
3 Memorial Drive
New Lynn
Phone 827 4731
Monday to Friday 9am -- 4.30pm
Saturday 10am -- 1pm
CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE ww w.cab.org.nz FOR ONLINE INFORMATION 4316536AA
Work begins on sinking motorway
By STEPHEN FORBES
The NZ Transport Agency has started
preliminary work on a new north-
western motorway causeway.
It is part of a $270 million project
which will eventually see the existing
4.2km stretch of highway between Pt
Chevalier and Te Atatu widened and
raised.
It follows a geotechnical investi-
gation that found the stretch of
motorway, which was built in the
1960s, is slowly sinking.
This causes surface flooding
between the Great North Rd and
Rosebank-Patiki Rd interchanges dur-
ing high tides.
The agency says the preliminary
work involves building a 50-metre-long
temporary causeway parallel to the
existing motorway.
This will allow it to measure the
impact the project will have on the
adjoining Motu Manawa Pollen Island
Marine Reserve, NZTA spokesman
Steve Mutton says.
NZTA and its contractor Downer
will focus on monitoring plants and
wildlife in the marine area to minimise
the impact of building the improved
motorway.
The $6 million trial is expected to be
completed in July.
NZTA is also seeking tenders for the
wider causeway upgrade project.
The project will include upgrading
the Rosebank and Patiki interchanges,
providing treatment to stormwater
runoff, widening bridges and improv-
ing the north-western cycleway.
It is expected to be completed in
2017.
Go to www.nzta.govt.nz for more
information.
Family fork out $2000 for lonely shag
By VANITA PRASAD
and AMY McGILLIVRAY
Lonely Sandy: Bird Rescue volunteer Corina Hooper holds a shag rescued by the Davis family. They airlifted it back to
Auckland for care. Trent, Narelle and Ellie Davis check out his progress.
Photo: OLIVER LI
Go to www.westernleader.
co.nz to see Narelle, Trent and Ellie
Davis tell their story.
Lonely Sandy could be the most
expensive shag in New Zealand
thanks to a little love from a
Titirangi couple.
The injured bird was about to die
in Sandy Bay, Port Charles before it
was rescued by the Davis family
who paid $2000 to fly the pied shag
to Green Bay s NZ Bird Rescue
Trust.
Narelle and Gavin Davis first
came across the bird after their chil-
dren Ellie, 7, and Trent, 11, spotted
it in front of their Sandy Bay bach
three weeks ago.
It was waddling up the road like
a duck.
He was just really really skinny
and small, Mrs Davis says.
The family took the bird in and
called the Conservation Depart-
ment and Bird Rescue Trust for
advice on how to keep it alive.
The nearest DOC office said it
was inundated with birds after all
the storms in the Coromandel and it
was two and a half hours drive
away but we were without a car so
we couldn t take it there, Mrs
Davis says.
The Forest and Bird lady in the
Bay said the shag would die but I
could see that apart from being a bit
shaken up and skinny it was all
right.
The family fed the shag sprats
they caught and kept him sheltered
from dogs and cats, determined to
keep the bird safe and well.
Despite the family s vigilance the
bird escaped on the first night he
stayed at their house leaving them
to fear the worst.
But that wasn t the last of him.
He wandered back through the
gates the next morning.
I took that as a sign that he
wanted to live, Mrs Davis says.
The bird was named Lonely
Sandy by the couple s children
because of its lonesome predicament
and where it came from.
They kept him in their lounge for
the next three days in the hope of
nursing him back to health but
decided to take drastic action when
Lyn MacDonald at the Green Bay
Bird Rescue Trust said the bird
would die unless he was taken to a
rescue centre.
Fearing that Lonely Sandy
wouldn t cope with the two-and-a-
half-hour car trip to Thames or the
three-hour boat ride home, Mrs
Davis hired a helicopter.
The biggest reason for making
that decision was because I saw a
cat that had been lurking around
under our deck where the shag was
and I could only guard him so
much, she says.
It was going to be a matter of
time before the cat got him and we d
actually fallen in love with him.
Mrs Davis, the two children and
the shag took a 25-minute flight to
Albany where they were picked up
and driven to the Green Bay Bird
Rescue Trust.
Ms MacDonald says it s the first
bird to be airlifted back to the
trust s bird hospital.
It is now being cared for by Mt
Wellington-based Bird Rescue vol-
unteer Corina Hooper.
In the wild Lonely Sandy would
still be in the nest being fed by his
parents so Ms Hooper is keeping
him separate from the rest of the
Tamaki Estuary colony for now.
He s going to be in there for a
couple of months.